Intimidate strikes me as the ability you are most likely to use in order to cause other characters to become subordinate to your will.
Diplomacy and Bluff convince people to act of their own volition due in your favor due to deceptions or arguments.
Intimidate convinces people to act because they fear the consequences of not obeying you - be they physical ("Krunk breaks arms"), social ("You'll never work in this town again"), meta-physical ("Odin has no use for cowards in his feasting hall"), or situational ("If you don't do this we're all going to die!"). If your line of motivation can naturally end in "or else" you're probably (but not always) using Intimidate.
Intimidate is especially useful when dealing with folks who are insular, demented, or in denial as they are disinclined to actually listen to / believe anything they don't want to hear that comes across in a Bluff or Diplomacy attempt. This is why politicians do so well with empty or counter-productive promises of what amount to little more than petty bribes - no one wants to hear about the real costs and consequences involved in the deal.
- Marty Lund
Deputy Rules Monkey
Diplomacy and Bluff convince people to act of their own volition due in your favor due to deceptions or arguments.
Intimidate convinces people to act because they fear the consequences of not obeying you - be they physical ("Krunk breaks arms"), social ("You'll never work in this town again"), meta-physical ("Odin has no use for cowards in his feasting hall"), or situational ("If you don't do this we're all going to die!"). If your line of motivation can naturally end in "or else" you're probably (but not always) using Intimidate.
Intimidate is especially useful when dealing with folks who are insular, demented, or in denial as they are disinclined to actually listen to / believe anything they don't want to hear that comes across in a Bluff or Diplomacy attempt. This is why politicians do so well with empty or counter-productive promises of what amount to little more than petty bribes - no one wants to hear about the real costs and consequences involved in the deal.
- Marty Lund
Deputy Rules Monkey